Women, Work, and Gender Relations in Developing Countries

The chapters in this collection are based on qualitative fieldwork studies and collectively offer the reader a perspective on women, work, and gender relations that is at once multidisciplinary and feminist. Women's work in the household, agriculture, industry, and in the so-called informal sector is explored with a concern for the ways in which gender, class, and ethnicity are constructed by the larger socioeconomic structures in which women live. By taking concrete analyses of women's lives as their point of departure, the contributors to this volume strive to bridge the gap between socio-economic structure of the society and the actual circumstances in which women find themselves. In this way, readers and scholars alike are better able to untangle the complex dynamics of gender relations and to develop strategies for social change.

?[A]dd complexity and offer insight into our knowlegde of the daily practices of women worldwide and are accessible to a broad readership of students, scholars, and practitioners.?-Gender & Society, ?This volume is packed full of ideas and illuminating case examples. It provides a rich array of situations where women have gained at least some control over their economic lives and provides illuminating opportunities to look at impacts on-going challenges. The authors are to be commended for presenting compelling empirical evidence for social change.?-Journal of Social Service Research, "ÝA¨dd complexity and offer insight into our knowlegde of the daily practices of women worldwide and are accessible to a broad readership of students, scholars, and practitioners."-Gender & Society, "[A]dd complexity and offer insight into our knowlegde of the daily practices of women worldwide and are accessible to a broad readership of students, scholars, and practitioners."-Gender & Society, "This volume is packed full of ideas and illuminating case examples. It provides a rich array of situations where women have gained at least some control over their economic lives and provides illuminating opportunities to look at impacts on-going challenges. The authors are to be commended for presenting compelling empirical evidence for social change."-Journal of Social Service Research

PARVIN GHORAYSHI is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. Her previous publications include Women and Work in Developing Countries: An Annotated Bibliography, (Greenwood Press, 1994) which was selected as a Choice Outstanding Book for 1994.CLAIRE BÉLANGER is Programme Officer for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Ottawa, Canada.